Author and Ghostwriter
When you’re writing your memoir as a series of short stories, as the students in my class are learning to do, it’s important to know where to open your story. Spoiler: it’s seldom where you think. Remember that this is a class about writing technique whose goal is to make your stories un-put-down-able to people … Read more
Here’s a brief recap on class one, which I taught last week on writing memoir short stories. What I’m trying to do as I teach these classes is break down what I do when I’m working on a memoir for a client, as a ghostwriter. That’s not easy, because I do it all pretty intuitively, … Read more
Here’s my latest brainwave: memoir short stories. That’s as opposed to one long narrative memoir. There are a lot of advantages to writing this way, but first let me tell you why this is important for you. Lately, a lot of would-be memoirists have been contacting me, overwhelmed with the idea of writing their life … Read more
My brilliant copy-editor friend Heather Munro recently asked me about story structure. I told her it’s quite simple. Stories are based upon conflict, but conflict isn’t what you probably think it is. To have conflict you have to have a character with a goal. Then, you have to have something to obstruct the character’s attempts … Read more
The TV show Breaking Bad is a great example of a story where the idea of something called a super-objective comes into play. A super-objective is something you as the author know about your character, which the character may not even know about him/herself. It’s the character’s greatest wish in life. The aim of his … Read more
I’ve been reading thrillers and other types of genre fiction lately. Clive Cussler is my favorite of these so far, largely because I really like action. Car chases, helicopter crashes, pirate battles: all that stuff! Here’s what I think of this latest Cussler book Shock Wave. The opening is fantastic. The action and scene-setting are … Read more
I’m pleased as punch to publish this Kirkus Review of my Young Adult novel, Bits of String too Small to Save. The reviewer called it “impressively creative,” “wildly imaginative,” “occasionally haunting,” and declared it “anchored by strong, evolving female characters.” This book has a ton of characters, each weirder than the next, which makes it … Read more
Please enjoy this video about the difference between a “vanity memoir” and a legitimate memoir. It all has to do with being a vulnerable memoirist versus being a braggart. Many of my clients worry about their projects being perceived as frivolous. This will help clear up what exactly it takes to write a memoir that’s … Read more
I’ve had a lot of clients who worry that writing a memoir will seem like what they call a “vanity project.” I think this is a term that has come into common use lately, what with all the self publishing that’s available. It’s not all done at a quality level. Some memoirs seem rather self … Read more
If you’ve been wanting to become a memoirist, here’s your first lesson, called “Commas can kiss my ass!” It’s also my very first video. Comments are welcome! Go ahead, let me have it. Basically, the thing is, don’t let a fear of getting your grammar and punctuation wrong hold you back from putting words on … Read more